Global Warming a National Security Threat?

Yesterday, while speaking to the Environmentalist Defense Fund, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta announced that ‘man-made’ Global Warming is now an issue of national security. Any reasonable person might ask why, and Panetta explains:

“The area of climate change has a dramatic impact on national security. Rising sea levels, severe droughts, the melting of the polar caps, the more frequent and devastating natural disasters all raise demand for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.”

Rising sea levels will cause the United States to spend more money in aid, thus hurting our national security? Panetta fails to connect the dots in his logic. He also assumes that the world will face a massive disaster from drastic changes in the sea level. Although sea levels are on the rise, there is still debate as to the cause and it is not as bad as expected.

But Panetta did not stop pandering to environmentalists there. He continued by citing the costs to the Department of Defense of high gas prices as a reason the department is looking to alternative fuel sources. The Armed Forces Press Service reports that, “He pledged to continue to keep the Defense Department on the cutting edge in the push for clean energy.” Increasing oil exploration and production at home, rather than investing in alternative technology that is still inefficient, would be win-win for the department. It would lower their fuel costs and increase our national security by making America less reliant on foreign producers. Why would he not be advocating this rather than solutions that only make the problem of fuel costs and energy efficiency worse?

Allowing this hijacking of the Department of Defense by environmentalists distracts attention, manpower, and funds from work that actually protects our national security.